When last we met, I described the oddity of the Milwaukee Brewers having more wins at home than the Astros had all year. Turns out its happened in 65 different seasons from 1904-2010.
So, the obvious follow-up question is . . . has a team ever won more road games than another team’s win total for an entire season?
Well, given that since 1901, road teams have won 45.6% of all games played, its understandably rarer, but its not an impossibility. From 1904-1961 (58 seasons), there were 24 years in which this occurred. In the 49 seasons since, its only occurred four times. Here’s the full list from 1904-2010, with the differences in each season:
| Year | Best total road wins | Worst total wins | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1904 | 50 | 38 | 12 |
| 1905 | 51 | 48 | 3 |
| 1906 | 60 | 49 | 11 |
| 1907 | 53 | 49 | 4 |
| 1908 | 56 | 49 | 7 |
| 1909 | 57 | 42 | 15 |
| 1911 | 50 | 44 | 6 |
| 1912 | 54 | 50 | 4 |
| 1915 | 49 | 43 | 6 |
| 1916 | 48 | 36 | 12 |
| 1919 | 45 | 36 | 9 |
| 1923 | 52 | 50 | 2 |
| 1927 | 53 | 51 | 2 |
| 1928 | 53 | 43 | 10 |
| 1932 | 45 | 43 | 2 |
| 1935 | 48 | 38 | 10 |
| 1937 | 47 | 46 | 1 |
| 1939 | 54 | 43 | 11 |
| 1941 | 50 | 43 | 7 |
| 1942 | 47 | 42 | 5 |
| 1945 | 49 | 46 | 3 |
| 1952 | 51 | 42 | 9 |
| 1954 | 52 | 51 | 1 |
| 1961 | 51 | 47 | 4 |
| 1962 | 48 | 40 | 8 |
| 1965 | 51 | 50 | 1 |
| 2003 | 51 | 43 | 8 |
| 2004 | 52 | 51 | 1 |
Some notes about the biggest differences:
- 1904: Its the same pair of teams as in the “home wins” situation. Here, the New York Giants’ 50 road wins outpaced the Washington Senator’s 38 total wins.
- 1906: As part of their historic 116-36 record (best winning percentage in a season, at .763), the Chicago Cubs went an amazing 60-15 on the road (setting records for road wins and road winning percentage). On the other end of the scale, the NL’s Boston Beaneaters and AL’s Boston Americans each won 49 games the entire season.
- 1909: The Cubs had another solid season away from home, winning 57 road games (though they finished six games back of the pennant-winning Pirates). Meanwhile, the Washington Senators were having another wretched campaign, going 42-110.
- 1916: The Boston Braves led the majors with (only) 48 road wins, but that was good enough to overwhelm the futility of the Philadelphia Athletics, who set a post-1900 record for worst season winning percentage (.235), based on their 36-117 ledger.
- 1939: The Yanks ran away with the AL pennant by 17 games, thanks in large part to a 54-20 mark away from the Bronx. The St. Louis Browns, with their 6.01 team ERA, struggled to a 43-111 finish.